【英语时差8,16】蒲公英的诞生

（单词翻译）

 A Dandelion Is Born They’re a home owner’s nemesis¹ and a young kid’s delight. Whether they’re yellow flowers dotting an otherwise perfect lawn or white puffs² ready to be blown away by a sudden gust³, dandelions are either hated or loved by just about everybody. What looks like a single yellow flower growing in your lawn is actually many flowers grouped together. Each section of the flower that looks like a petal⁴ is actually an individual flower in its own right. A dandelion is an aggregate⁵ of many small flowers and each individual flower has its own stamens and pistil, and therefore can reproduce without fertilization. After a dandelion has bloomed, each of the individual flowers within a single dandelion forms a seed. The seed is attached to fluffy⁶ white threads, which allow the seed to fly to a place where, if it meets favorable conditions, it can germinate⁷ to create another dandelion. Even if you hate this common weed, you’ve got to respect its tenacious⁸ spirit. Dandelions are native to six continents, and are found throughout the world except in the tropics. Their impressive roots, which can be up to a foot long, allow them to thrive in inhospitable environments, like big cities, where most flowers and weeds can’t even survive. Cut off a dandelion at the surface and the root will grow another plant. But dandelions aren’t just annoying weeds; they’ve been used throughout history in a variety of ways. Dandelion leaves have been eaten as salad greens and dried to make dandelion tea; and dandelion flowers have been used to make wine and schnapps. In addition, the milky⁹ juice of one kind of dandelion has been used to make a natural rubber.